Month: April 2022

So I have been planning a major vacation for many months. Since I had plans so far in advance, I of course notified my boss that I wanted to take this time off. He told me it would be no problem at all so far in advance, and he would make sure I got my time off for the dates requested. As the time for my break got closer, I reminded my boss of my eventual vacation. He reiterated that everything was taken care of. Finally the time for my vacation arrived. My boss suddenly acted like this was completely out of the blue. He said I didn't request the time off in the “proper channels” and there was no way I could get the time off. There was nothing he could do, I simply had to come in. I hung up the phone in shock. I sat for a…

Prelude: I work in sales. For two years I worked as a specialist acct mgr in my industry. Last year was an insane year for me and I hit all of my goals in July. I also lead the only fully successful product launch for the year. I was in the top 5 sales personnel in North America and was invited on a week long free vacation in the Bahamas for making “presidents club”. then, last July, my wife and I had our first son and I put off parental leave (a company benefit) until January and February of this year to finish the year strong. When I came back to work this march, my boss and I had a one on one to catch up where he told me the following: I lost my specialist title My territory shrunk from three states to one and all of my largest…

So I work two jobs that collectively put me at 80 hrs per week (before y'all flip shit, this is by choice, I'm not planning to take 30 years for my mortgage) and while it is obviously hard it never really drags on me. The jobs themselves are great, my coworkers are great, and all my bosses. It makes work feel much less like work and makes it so I'm not constantly stressing and groaning over working so many hours and not having a day off. The best part is the flexibility of the second job means that when I get decently enough ahead on my mortgage it won't be an issue at all dialing back the hours on my second job. I get home and I never dread going into work the next day, which does wonders for my mental health.

I'm in my mid 30's and have been working for the family business since I left highschool. I'm third generation and last in line to take over, meaning if I don't, the company is over. Everything my grandfather worked his life for. Everything my father, uncle, and grandmother worked for. I've been getting up at 4 am every morning and getting home at 6 pm or later everyday for 17 years. I have two small children now that I sometimes only see for 20 min while they're getting ready for bed after I get home. Now I have an offer to work a 40 hour week where I'll only be gone 10 hours a day instead of 13. That's an extra 15 hours a week at home with my family. A slight pay cut but I think it's worth it. I'm feeling so much guilt for putting an end to…

That's what my last job was, when I think about it. They sold me so hard on the phone interview, said literally everything I wanted to hear, they weren't too far away. They did require me to shave my beard for safety reasons, and boy did that hurt. But that's how hard they sold me. So when the red flags started waving I remained earnest and honest as possible and tried my best to provide an honest day's work. They made me read some absurd self-help book for businesses. They started demanding accounting for how long a task takes me to complete despite how many other responsibilities I tended to from day to day. They started having disciplinary meetings where they isolate me with an unambiguous Boss and HR person who reveal that they have thoroughly catalogued every bad day I've ever had and decision outside of my control that…